The White, The Black, The Blue and His Dog
This story was first published on May 29, 2015
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Thanks for your work here. I was hoping to read about the recent drug dog search of the parking lot at Key West High and the bluring of lines by the highest levels of district leadership. I hope you have a reliable source on the inside, it is as seedy as it gets. Justice is not colorblind in MCSD.
I’ve heard a lot about this from a few of my friends who are teachers. I know them but can’t even believe what they are saying. Why isn’t this so covered up. One teacher was even called down for her car to be searched.
this disparity in “justice” Mr. Donnelly, is precisely the reason these jackboot thugs need to be kept out of schools. it doesn’t matter if you can point to “good” cops; it is institutional corruption, and that makes individuality irrelevant.
We must look at facts. Much of the low income residents are black. That in no way means they are all drug dealers as many are very religious fine people. Now to single them out and only use dogs on blacks is flat out wrong but this is Key West and racism is a fact. Have no idea how or if this will ever change. Cops assume blacks are guilty of something. Only voters can change this. Get people like Lee the puppet out of office. Takes guts to be openly gay but judge blacks. Not saying gay is wrong but his department judges based on race.
Here’s a question. Why are you posting a video that was placed on YouTube on 2015 as if this is a recent video? I’m starting to see that this paper has a thing against law enforcement and Deputy Lariz specifically. I’ve seen multiple articles and videos you have posted that seem as if you are going after Deputy Lariz every chance you get. It’s kind of sad that you go after an office who not only tries to keep the streets of Monroe County safe but also a man who is an active member of US Army reserves. Yet we never see you share videos about the opioid epidemic hitting the Florida Keys.
Interesting that you believe this video is “about Deputy Lariz” and that we specifically focus on that particular law enforcement officer or on law enforcement for that matter.
You are wrong. Our work is not about individuals – it’s about systemic issues and accountability in government and law enforcement is one part of government.
It is true that we are the only Florida Keys publication that has spent any energy on law enforcement accountability. And it is true that Lariz’ name has come up more than once.
But he is not the only officer who has been called out for his actions. Most recently a KWPD officer assigned to school safety at HOB was put on leave pending termination because our reporting forced the chief to take a hard look at his performance related to students and gun threats at HOB.
You may have noticed that the Citizen’s former reporter assigned to the Courts and law enforcement is now the Sheriff’s PIO.
If we are looking for interesting connections in local law enforcement reporting we might wonder at the fact that the reporter (now MCSO PIO) never mentioned in any of his coverage that the deputy involved in the shootout with a suspect on Stock Island a few years ago disregarded training for felony stops and also (unknowingly) shot up a family enjoying a sweet 16 party for their daughter in their front yard and that the story we broke that went international about the immigrant that was berated by your friend Lariz about his “legal” status as he lay injured on the side of the road after being hit by a truck also went unreported by our daily newspaper. It was reported all over the world but not mentioned by our daily paper. Think about that.
You are of course welcome to your opinion about our publication and our motives and to letting us all know that your friend Lariz has some good qualities (not at all surprising) but the concept that we have some personal vendetta against him or law enforcement in general – the truth of which can only be known by us for it is our inner drive you are speculating about – is simply wrong.
Yes the video was a re-run. It was one of our better investigative pieces that (unfortunately) is still relevant today. We do not see any indication that local law enforcement heads have so much as acknowledged that racial profiling is really going on so imagining that it is a thing of he past is purely naive.
As to why the re-run: we were on a well-deserved vacation, we’ve gained thousands of new readers since the video was first published and we are very proud to have the opportunity to highlight this work for those who had not seen it the first time it was published.
Thanks for showing again this most excellent investigative report! And to the writer about Chief Lee the puppet, it is very true of course. To see who is operating the puppet strings, it may be better to look at Pablo Rodriguez. And when there is an excessive force many times Rodriguez is there.
We have never spent a dime on buying the citizens paper. We do receive it free at the place we stay in KW and it clearly just a worthless paper hat hides the truth. People read the blue to find the truth. Key West is very corrupt and bribes seem to play a part in it. Lee is a good boy that follows orders, that is why he is in office.
We do thank you for pointing out the corruption and it stopped us from buying a house that would been a huge mistake. We did buy several homes locally that produce a nice return, Still love to visit but will not buy anything in KW as we see it to fail in next few years.